Comparing LED to traditional halogen and fluorescent lights

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Are you a photographer who wants to work with LED lights during photo shoots? How are they different from traditional halogen and fluorescent lights? What are some things you need to keep in mind when using LEDs? In this video, Abba Shapiro compares LED lights with traditional halogen and fluorescent lights.

- Now there are a variety of continuous lightsthat you can use when working with photography.There's a traditional tungsten light.You can see that over here.This type of light's been used for over a hundred years.It's the kind of, it's a bulb that you would put in.Almost like the bulbs that you have in your house,except a lot more intense.And they come in a varietyof types of of incandescent lights.There's tungsten, there's halogen.There's a variety of lights that you can use.There's also fluorescent lights.And, fluorescent lights cangive you a different quality of light.

And it has benefits and challenges.And finally, LED's.These are all constant or continuous lights.Now, at first blush, some of these lights look very similar.As a matter of fact, this tungsten light,and this LED light, they look very similar.And, that's not an issue.As a matter of fact, the fixtures are irrelevantto the type of light that's inside those fixtures.So let's look at some of the challenges and benefitsof these different types of continuous lights.The tungsten light, they're also called hot lights,and they're called hot lights for a reason.

Because, they generate a lot of heat.They're not a very efficient light.If you use these lights, you have challengesof your room heating up.They generally use a lot more power.It's rare that they will run off batteries,you usually have to plug them into a wall.But, on the benefits, is that they are less expensive.The light bulbs are replaceable.Usually the fixtures are fairly durable.So, this is a very popular light that you're gonna see.And as a matter of fact, this has been usedin the film and video industry for years.

But the heat and the power draw is the challenge.And, these get so hot that you usually need glovesto adjust say the barn doors.Or, you have to turn them off and let them coolbefore you can actually work with them.Another type of light that's very popular,are fluorescent lights.Now these aren't the fluorescent lightsthat you would go to the hardware store and buy.Professional lighting fluorescent lightsgive a flicker-free light at a certain color temperature.And we're gonna look at color temperature in another lesson.But basically whether you're shooting inside,you may get a fluorescent light that's ratedat 3200 degrees, or more golden to match the interior light.

Or you may get fluorescent lightsthat are rated for outside, or daylight,where they're 5600 degrees.The challenges with a fluorescent light isthat you have to let them warm upto reach the right color temperature.They're a little more fragile,so if this fell over, it's likely that a bulb could break,so you always have to carry spare bulbsand you have to be very careful with these.And, they don't put out that much light,and it's a very soft light.So if you're looking to focus your light.

If you really want to create dramatic lighting,they're not the right light for the job.However, if you do want a nice soft light,and you want to get a nice flood,they're a great light to use.And then we get to the LEDs.Now, LEDs are becoming a lot more versatile as time goes on.Originally, there was basically a flat panel.Well as you can see, there are still flat panelsthat give you a certain quality of light.Here we have an LED, where it's inside a fixturethat's very similar to our incandescent light,and in this case you can actually focus this.

You can use the barn doors,to be able to flag off your light.So even though the source is an LED,there's a variety of fixtures that these LEDscan be placed in, that can give youa lot of control over your lights.One of the great things about LEDs,is they're practically indestructible.Now don't go out and try to break one,because yes you can,but generally if you knock a light over,it's not going to break.And what would break wouldn't be the LEDs.It might be the housing or the unit.The other thing is, they rarely, if ever, burn out.

You'll see ratings of LEDs that say 50 thousand hours,100 thousand hours.So, once you have an LED light,the odds are, it's going to last a lot longerthan say a fluorescent or incandescent.As a matter of fact, an incandescent bulbhas a certain life that eventually it will burn out.So you always have to keep spare bulbs with you.So that's just an idea of the different typesof continuous lightings that you may come across.And, definitely each one of thesedo serve a specific purpose.

The incandescents can be much brighter.So you can shoot with them much morelike you would probably use a strobe.So you don't have to worry about your ISOand your shutter speed as much.The flourescents can give you a nice soft light,if you're looking for that.And the LEDs are very convenientbecause the odds are you're not gonna break themif you knock them around.They burn the least amount of power of the three,so you can run them off of batteries.And they come in a variety of fixtures,so you can control the light the way that you want.

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Released

6/8/2017

Lighting with flash is convenient, but if you're working in a studio setting, you might also want to consider LED panels. Along with other continuous lighting sources, LED panels have the advantage of enabling you to see and tweak your lighting without having to make a lot of test shots. What's more, the new generation of LED panels are more affordable and portable than ever. Unlike flash, they also work beautifully for video shoots.

In this course, photographer and educator Abba Shapiro details the why and how behind using LED panels and other continuous lighting sources for photography. He covers the pros and cons of shooting with continuous LED lights, reviews the different types of LED lights, explains how to tackle portraits and product photography with LEDs, and shows how to work with LEDs when you're outside.